History Main / FoxChickenGrainPuzzle

* The obscure dating game ''Sprung'' on the NintendoDS had a variation to this on Brett's story. At one point Brett will be asked to go to Sanctuary with Becky, where he will bring his buds Lucas and Danny while she brings Alex and Erica. The catch, however, is that Becky wants a calmer night, so she doesn't want any funny business ([[FridgeLogic nevermind that Sanctuary is a raving night club where the nameless other people not mentioned in the game are probably doing just that]]). The puzzle comes where Brett meets everyone but Becky at the front of the club and he has to get all of them inside one by one. However, if Lucas and Alex or Danny and Erica are left alone and Brett comes back to them later, he will catch them making out, leading to Becky to see this, her announcing the night was ''ruined'' and you getting slapped with a game over. The puzzle is extended further because it's not only a matter of getting everyone inside, but also a matter of keeping everyone happy which means a lot of shuffling out people whom are already fine inside (such as dragging Danny out because he gets panicked over the sight of too many people, or dragging Lucas out for pep talk). Further rules are also added as time marches on, including how the aforementioned couples ''can'' later be left alone without problems after an event happens where Brett talks them down, or how new pairings are made that ''can't'' be left alone without you interfering with them (such as how, at one point, Danny and Lucas will fight if left alone).

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* The obscure dating game ''Sprung'' on the NintendoDS UsefulNotes/NintendoDS had a variation to this on Brett's story. At one point Brett will be asked to go to Sanctuary with Becky, where he will bring his buds Lucas and Danny while she brings Alex and Erica. The catch, however, is that Becky wants a calmer night, so she doesn't want any funny business ([[FridgeLogic nevermind that Sanctuary is a raving night club where the nameless other people not mentioned in the game are probably doing just that]]). The puzzle comes where Brett meets everyone but Becky at the front of the club and he has to get all of them inside one by one. However, if Lucas and Alex or Danny and Erica are left alone and Brett comes back to them later, he will catch them making out, leading to Becky to see this, her announcing the night was ''ruined'' and you getting slapped with a game over. The puzzle is extended further because it's not only a matter of getting everyone inside, but also a matter of keeping everyone happy which means a lot of shuffling out people whom are already fine inside (such as dragging Danny out because he gets panicked over the sight of too many people, or dragging Lucas out for pep talk). Further rules are also added as time marches on, including how the aforementioned couples ''can'' later be left alone without problems after an event happens where Brett talks them down, or how new pairings are made that ''can't'' be left alone without you interfering with them (such as how, at one point, Danny and Lucas will fight if left alone).

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016'' episode "Splitsville", Bubbles has to help a farmer get his goose, fox and bag of seeds across the river. It starts out normal, then gets ridiculously complicated with the addition of nosy tourists, a [[DastardlyWhiplash Robber Baron]], the starting lineup of the Townsville girls basketball team, SherlockHolmes and the Raptor King.-->'''Bubbles:''' Why do you even need all these things in your farm?\\'''Farmer:''' Listen, do you know of a better way to grow radishes?** And to top it off, [[spoiler:at the end the farmer [[ShaggyDogStory realizes that his farm was on the ''other'' side all along.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Prisoner of Benda", the characters have to figure out how to return everything to normal after rampant body-swapping, the main complication being that no two people can swap with each other more than once. The solution actually proves a mathematical theorem developed by the episode's writer Ken Keeler, which states that you only need two extra people to swap everyone to their original bodies. The theorem is explained [[http://theinfosphere.org/Futurama_theorem here]].

* The puzzle appears in J.H. Brennan's (author of the Literature/GrailQuest books) ''Dracula's Castle'', where you have to travel with a cat, a dog, and a mouse in a lift. However the twist is that the cat can't bear to take the lift more than twice, meaning the correct answer is that there is no solution to the puzzle.

May also appear with different animals and vegetables, such as wolves, sheep and cabbages. A "jealous husbands" variant has three couples trying to cross a river with a two-person rowboat, but none of the men will allow his wife to be alone with either of the other men on either side of the river. This one can be solved in eleven steps.

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May also appear with different animals and vegetables, such as wolves, sheep and cabbages. A "jealous husbands" (also known as cannibals and missionaries) variant has three couples trying to cross a river with a two-person rowboat, but none of the men will allow his wife to be alone with either of the other men on either side of the river.river (or, cannibals cannot outnumber missionaries, lest the latter attacked and eaten). This one can be solved in eleven steps.

* The Creator/PiersAnthony novel ''[[Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality With a Tangled Skein]]'' has this near the ending, with the Missionaries/cannibals variant. The complication is that there are three women and three demons, and if the demons outnumber the women at any point, [[{{Squick}} the women will be raped]].

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* The Creator/PiersAnthony novel ''[[Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality With a Tangled Skein]]'' ''Literature/WithATangledSkein'' has this near the ending, with the Missionaries/cannibals variant. The complication is that there are three women and three demons, and if the demons outnumber the women at any point, [[{{Squick}} the women will be raped]].

* [[http://ottercomics.taur.net/cramps/archive/index.php?puzzle=31 This webcomic]] throws a wrench into the classic riddle by allowing the wolf to eat the fruit in this case. [[spoiler: It also throws a second curve ball by replacing the chicken with a duck for this riddle, and it turns out that there's nothing that says you can't use the ''rope'' depicted in the boat to tow the duck behind the boat. The riddle is then solved in just three moves--take one item across, return, take the other item across, all while towing the duck with the rope, [[CaptainObvious since the duck can float]].]]

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